Stringed musical instrument bridge



Sept. 22, 1959 A. HOYER STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT BRIDGE Filed July13, 1956 i li iiii li ili; 52.!

FIG. I.

INVENTOR. ARNOLD HOYEQ A T TODD/EX StatesPatent "ice STRINGED MUSICALArnold I-Ioyer, Tennenlohe, ErlangemGermany, assignor fiyAlexander A.Kroo and Emil Kroo, New York,

Application July 13, 1956, Serial No. 606,944

10 Claims. '(Cl. 84-307) This application refers to a bridge forstringed instrumerits and more particularly to a bridge of new andimproved design making strings at the bridge.

The tuning of a stringed instrument involves only one :method, that ofstretching or releasing the strings; Most stringed instruments areconstructed with a tail piece holding one end of the strings immovable,anda number of keys at the head which through a sirnple gear system willwind the strings onto a roller when turned. Intermediate the tail pieceand the head of the instrument is a bridge on the sounding board and'aneck at the end of the finger board over which the strings are"stretched. While the strings of such an instrument 7 or tunedrelatively close to an ideal setting, it is extremely drawn to tune suchan instrument to the highest critical standards of some musicians.Thereforea means possible fine adjustment of the fingerboard and a headmay be stretched of tuning the separate strings of astringed instrumentwith a high degree of accuracy is desired.

It is an object or this invention to provide a sounding box bridge for astringed instrument which will incorporate a means of tuning theseparate strings stretched thereacross.

It is another object of this invention to provide a bridge for a musicalinstrument which shall be provided with separate means for engaging thestrings thereof, said separate string engaging means being adjustable soas to tune the said strings.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a bridge for astringed instrument, as described, in "which the separate stringengaging means may be easily adjusted with a minimum of effort toextremely slight variations in degree, so as to provide a high degree ofaccuracy in tuning. i v I t It is a further object of this invention toprovidea bridge means for a stringed musical instrument as described,which shall be simple and inexpensive to manufacture, attractive inappearance, sturdy and long lasting and practical and efficient to ahigh degree in use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in parthereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which thescope of invention will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown various illustrativeembodiments of this invention:

Fig. l is a plan view of a guitar fitted with a bridge in accordancewith the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the bridge;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the bridge; and

Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Construction of the bridge in accordance with the present invention maybe seen in the drawing. Fig. 1 illustrates a six stringed guitar 10fitted with said bridge. The guitar is a standard model in which thestrings 11 are the width-- of the top surface 2,905,042 Patented Sept.22, 19 59 2 anchored to a tail piece 12 which is secured to the base ofa sounding box 13 of the guitar.

The fingerboard 14 extends outwardly from the sounding box. A bridgeneck 15 is formed at the end of the 16 incorporating winding posts 17and keys 18 is formed above the neck bridge. Between the tail piece 12and the sounding port 19 is located the bridge 20.

The bridge 20 embodying the invention as seen in 'Fig. 3 rests upon anadjustable base 21 which is seated on the top surface of the soundingbox 13. The adjustable base is a standard type formed of a shaped,elongated wooden block '22 set with a pair of vertically extendingthreaded posts 23 on which are threaded a pair of disc shaped nuts 24.An upper bridge 25 is seated on the nuts 24 and is adjustable thereby asto height. The upper bridge 25 is formed with a shaped, elongated woodenblock '26 which is formed with a pair of vertical openings 27 to receivethe threaded posts 23 which are set in block 22. The top surface 28 ofblock 2'6 is arched across the length of the bridge and beveled at anangle so that it is lower at the front side 29 of the block '26 than atthe rear side 30. A steel guide cage 31 is fitted over the top of block26. The cage 31 is formed with a front plate 32 which extends the lengthof block 26 and upwardly above the top surface 28 of the block. A numberof fingers 33 extend rearwardly from the front plate 32 of the cage 31'.The fingers 33 join together at the rear "to form a second verticalplate 34 corresponding to plate 32. Fingers 33 are angled upwardlytowards the rear side 30 of the upper bridge 25. Therefore, plateportion 34 of cage 31 is larger vertically than plate portion 32. Wells33a are formed in plates 32 and 34 between iingers 33. Plates 32 and 34are secured to block '26 by means of screws 35, or in any other suitablemanner. A number of rollers 36 are located between the fingers 33 of theguide cage 31 and rest upon the top surface 28 of block '26.

The rollers 36 are formed each with a central neck portion 37 whichreceives a string 11. Extending outwardly and away from neck 37 of eachroller 36 is "a conical wall 38 which then forms circular side discs 39.Extending outwardly from the center of the outer surface 40 of thesidediscs 39 is a lug pin 41. The lug pins '41 extending from oppositesides of the centers of rollers 36, serve to retain said rollers withinsaid metal pa e 31 The diameters of the rollers 36 is less 28 of block26. Therefore, the rollers may be rolled back and forth within" theslots formed between the fingers 33 of cage 31. The upper ends of theouter roller discs 39 extend above the top surface of the fingers 33. Itis necessary for the necks to project above the surfaces of finger wells33a so that they may engage the strings 11. Tension of the strings 11will hold the rollers 36 in place.

To adjust the position of the rollers, the musician moves them manuallyby pushing the top surfaces of roller discs 39 with a finger. As therollers 36 are pushed or rolled back and forth in the slots formedbetween fingers 33, they will mount or descend the incline of surface 28of block 26. Therefore, the string 11 will be raised or lowered since itrests upon neck 37 of the roller. Raising a string at this point willstretch it, and lowering it will release it. Therefore each string maybe tuned individually by rolling the rollers back and forth with afinger.

The direction of the incline of surface 28 of the bridge may be varied,so that the bridge may be placed with the incline rising towards thehead 16 of the guitar, or towards the tail piece 12. The height of theentire upper bridge may be adjusted by means of the lower bridge 21v Itwill thus been seen that there is provided a device in which the severalobjects of this invention are achieved and which is well adapted to meetthe conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth,it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in theaccompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A bridge for a stringed instrument, said bridge comprising a baseblock having a sloped upper surface, a guide cage mounted on said block,said cage comprising a front wall and a rear wall and a top wall, saidtop wall having a number of slots and being provided with fingersbetween said slots disposed in spaced relation above the upper surfaceof said block and parallel thereto, a roller within each slot resting onthe top surface of said block and adapted to roll forwardly andrearwardly, said rollers each having a central annular groove, and saidrollers being provided with axially extending lug means disposed beneathsaid fingers.

2. A bridge for a stringed instrument, said bridge comprising ablockbase member, said block base member being formed with a forwardly andrearwardly sloped top surface, a guide cage means, said cage meanscomprising a front plate means secured to the front face of said blockmember, said front plate means extending above said top surface of saidblock member, finger means extending from said plate means rearwardlyabove said top surface of said block member in spaced parallel relationthereto, and a rear plate means extending downwardly from the rear endsof said finger means, said rear plate means being secured to the rearface of said block member, rollers between said finger means andprojecting thereabove, said roller means being adapted to roll back andforth across the top surface of said block between said finger means,said rollers being grooved to receive strings, and means to retain saidrollers beneath said finger means of said cage means.

3. A bridge for a stringed musical instrument to be mounted on anadjustable base comprising an elongated block, said elongated blockbeing formed with a forwardly and rearwardly inclined top surface,rollers positioned on said inclined surface of said block, said rollersbeing positioned so as to be rollable forwardly and rearwardly on saidinclined surface, said rollers being formed with a narrow neck adaptedto receive a string, and means to retain said rollers in position uponthe top surface of said block.

4. The combination of claim 3, said means for retaining said rollers inposition comprising a cage means formed of a pair of upwardly extendingplate means abutting the front and rear surfaces of said block means,said plate means extending upwardly above said top surface of said blockmeans, and finger means interconnecting said front and rear platemembers, said finger means forming slots therebetween, said rollersbeing positioned within said slots so as to be abutted by said fingermeans, and said rollers formed with outwardly extending axial lug meansbeneath said finger means adapted to retain said rollers from coming outof the cage;

5. A bridge for a stringed musical instrument comprising a block, a cagemounted on the block and having a front wall, a rear wall and a topportion having spaced slots forming fingers between the slots, anannularly grooved roller mounted for rolling movement within each slotin rolling contact with the top of the block, between said front andrear walls, and projecting above the slot.

6. The combination of claim 5, said front and rear walls being formedwith notches aligned with said slots.

7. The combination of claim 5, said rollers each being formed with apair of oppositely extending projections disposed beneath said fingers.

8. A bridge for a stringed musical instrument comprising a memberadapted to be mounted on the musical instrument, a cage fixed to saidmember, said cage comprising a front wall and a rear wall and a topwall, said top wall having a plurality of parallel slots and beingprovided with fingers between said slots, and rollers mounted on saidmember and projecting through said slots, said rollers being adapted toroll back and forth between the front and rear walls of the cage, saidrollers having grooves whereby to receive strings, said fingersretaining the rollers against side movement and said rollers havingopposite axles to prevent the rollers from being lifted up out of thecage.

9. The combination of claim 8, said member having a top inclined surfaceon which the rollers roll, and the fingers being parallel to saidsurface.

10. The combination of claim 9, the front and rear walls of the cagehaving notches communicating with the ends of the slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS521,909 Graham June 26, 1894 2,491,788 Widowson Dec. 20, 1949 2,573,254Fender Oct. 30, 1951 2,740,313 McCarty Apr. 3, 1956 2,793,557 StipeticMay 28, 1957 2,800,050 Gregg et a1 July 23, 1957

